Echoes of the Dead
by Admiralkirk
Summary: Early in the war two men were wrongly convicted for a crime they didn't commit. They must earn back their ranks and will take on the Lucust army through most of the war.First story for gears of war, tell me what you think.
1. Intro

**Echoes of the Dead**

**Chapter 1**

**A/N Hello it's me Admiralkirk I thank you for looking at this story and for anyone who has come to this story because I told in the Spyro section thanks for reading. This story will be written by me(obviously) and co-written by my brother who actually thought up this story and will telling me the basic story and characters. If you looked at my profile some are already up and two will be in this chapter. If you enjoyed reading this and you've not read any of my other stuff give it a try unless you really don't care for Spyro the dragon. On with the story!**

**Chapter 1:**

"Bring forth the accused Frederick Davidson and William Hunter!" the bailiff shouted. Two men being escorted by a police officer and were sat on two seats behind a table. The first man named Fred was white and average height, he was averagely built with large hands, large muscles and thick chest. His hair was brown and was fashioned like Doms. His face was arrowed shaped and had a newly made scar going down his left eye.

The second man was named Will was also white and was slightly shorter then Fred but had slightly more muscle on his arms. He all around stronger looking then Fred and had a slightly shaven beard. The two men had no lawyer and had two armed guards standing either side from them. The judge came in and said "Sergeant Fredrick Davidson and Corporal William Hunter you have been charged with the murder of your commanding officer, General John Anderson. The penalty is life imprisonment, how do you plea?"

Fred stood and with a stone cold stare said "We plea not guilty, we didn't kill our General the Locust did" The Judge responded harshly "You may not have killed the general but you led him to the events of his death on purpose, we have evidence from eye witnesses from your own squad saying you led your convoy into a Locust trap and allowed the general to die"

Fred kept his stare and said "Your honor if you will allow it I'd like to tell our side of the story?" The Judge obviously didn't care for this but allowed it and Fred began "We were inside the base when suddenly…"

One month ago…

Fred and Will were waiting outside the base and were waiting for the package to arrive. Fred was in his custom made armor that was like Doms armor but with more external armor that protected his shoulders, knees, and chest. Beside him was Will who was wearing standard issue COG armor without the helmet, more protective shoulders and slightly thicker armor.

Behind them were three other members of their elite squad names Whiskey squad. Fred was starting to get impatient when two trucks and an APC came around the corner when it stopped the front opened to reveal a man in his fifties in blue and grey officer clothing. He walked forward to the squad of five and they all saluted.

Fred said "General Anderson this is Whiskey squad and we will be protecting to today to the airfield" Anderson smiled "At ease gentleman, I've heard a lot about you and your squad mostly about being some of the finest" he praised them and a soldier came from the APC and said "Sir we need to get moving if we're going to make it to the airfield"

The general nodded and motioned for the squad to come with him. Fred started shouting orders "Whiskey 5 I want you on the turret of truck two, Whiskey 4 you're on truck one's gun. Whiskey 3 and 2 you're with me and the general".

Will was Whiskey 2 and entered the APC with the general, Fred, and Whiskey 3 codenamed "Rat" he was called that because on the battle field he can scurry around the battlefield and almost nobody spotted him. The front hatch closed and the convoy took off.

Inside the cramped vehicle was three of the general's personal guards, they weren't much but every man counted on a mission like this. They only noise they heard for half an hour was the loud growl of the engine and the occasion metal scraping against metal when the APC ran over destroyed cars.

Suddenly the ground started shaking and Fred opened up the top hatch and saw the ground starting to crack in front of the truck ahead of them and yelled on the radio "Truck one stop now!" to bad the truck didn't stop in time and a giant Corpser broke through the ground and slammed it's spiked appendages on the truck sucking it into the ground.

Fred yelled over the radio "Whiskey 4… Whiskey 4! Do you copy?" no one answered and he yelled down to the driver "Reverse now!" by the time the two remaining vehicles could start heading back a ticker ran into the side of the APC and blew it into a ditch. Fred was flung out of the vehicle and got up and yelled on the radio "Everyone out now!"

The front hatch opened and Will was first out and helped the General out and dropped him down. The General ran to Fred and hid in the same cover as him and said "Give me your side arm" Fred complied and gave him his Boltak pistol and all his ammo.

Will suddenly said over the radio "Uhhh Fred we got Locust coming out of the tunnel" Fred cursed and said "Regroup near me, truck two give us covering fire". They heard war cries from the tunnel and Will, Rat and the general's guards took cover with Fred and the General.

They heard the truck start firing and grubs dying from the other side of the APC, Fred began thinking of a plan and said "We're going to retreat back down this street and I'll call in a raven for evac" Everyone nodded and just as they were about to move the Corpser appeared again and knocked down a building so the ruble blocked the road.

Fred once again cursed but got on the radio "This is Whiskey leader to any raven in the area we need immediate evac, we have General Anderson with us!" After a few tense seconds a voice came from the radio "This is KR-43 we're on our way give us your coordinates" He relayed their position and just in time as the truck had to fall back to their position and the first drones came around the APC and was quickly killed but then ten came after it and they were shot down like a firing squad from the hail of bullets.

Slowly the numbers became overwhelming and a few slipped through to take cover almost a block away from them. The drones started firing back and forced some of the soldiers to take cover and allowing more drones to slip by. A few were grenadiers and they lobbed two grenades at the humans, one was a complete miss while the second landed right beside one of the Generals guards and exploded turning him into a pink mist.

He had a good position so another guard took his spot and kept firing. Fred fired and killed two drones as they popped out of cover, Will yelled "Another two on your belt sir"

Fred and Will were best friends since basic training and made sure they were on the same squad and watched each other's back. They had been tested multiple times and nearly died together but through all of it they survived either by luck or skill.

This battle was testing them to their limits and Fred said trying to reassure everyone "We're gonna make it, we've been through worst" Will was about to make a joke but a bullet whizzed by nearly taking his head off and focused again.

The drones got bold and moved forward getting closer to the humans. They started getting more aggressive and shot more frequently making it harder to fire back. One guard stayed out of cover just too long and was shot in the shoulder, Fred ordered Rat to run over and help him and he quickly scurried to him and helped him bandage it up.

Fred was shooting when he suddenly heard thuds and heard a loud voice "BOOM!" he yelled "WE got Boomers!" they appeared from behind the APC and growled as they started shooting. Most of the shots flew by harmlessly but one exploded close to Fred throwing him to his back.

He opened his eyes and saw Will in the background shooting as the General appeared from the other side and yelled something but all he could hear was ringing. The General lightly slapped him on the cheek and with a bit of volume this time "Get up soldier!"

Fred groaned and the General rolled his eyes and pulled him behind cover again. While he recovered the boomers were getting closer even with the turret from the truck firing at them. They were getting close enough that the turret could hit them without aiming much when suddenly it over heated and Whiskey 5 shouted "Will it's over heated!" Will was about to call for cover fire when the Boomers fired a volley.

Will shouted "Get out of there!" and Whiskey five was able to jump out just in time but the driver that was nearby was caught in the explosion and was killed. Will couldn't see if 5 had made it but turned and kept shooting, beside him the General got up and shot a locust that was mere inches from Will in the head and they nodded to each other.

Fred finally got out of the daze and picked up his lancer, he got on the radio again and said "KR-43 where are you?" The com crackled to life and heard the voice "We're five minutes out just hold on"

Fred got up and shot a grub right as he peaked over his cover and smirked. Suddenly they heard a loud streaking noise from a bullet and saw the final guard missing his head and Fred yelled "Sniper!" Over the radio he heard Whiskey 5's voice "I got him in my sights sir" they heard another bullet and saw a grub fall from a window of a building.

After a few second 5 appeared beside Fred and he nodded to him. They fought for another 4 extremely long minutes and Fred said "The chopper should be here in a minute" The guard that was shot in the shoulder was suddenly hit by a Boomer grenade and splashed blood all over Rat.

Fred cringed at the scene but couldn't think about it for long as the ground started shaking and the pavement cracked. He heard Will say "Shit" just as the Corpser exploded out of the ground and smashed its arms down on them.

Fred thought he was dead but opened his eyes and saw that the arms had smashed the ground just behind them. The ground had crumbled into a ditch and he looked around, Will was fine and was getting up. Fred looked back and saw Whiskey 5 completely impaled by one of the arms. He finally looked towards the General and saw his leg had been crushed by the Corpser.

Will shot at the Corpsers face and making it pulled its legs up and crawled into the hole to protect its eyes, Fred heard the General groan and crawled over to him. "Sir are you ok?" The General groaned and said "Sergeant… is that you" He said "Yes sir are you fit to move?" The General cringed as pain rocked his body and said "Sergeant get out of here, quick the chopper is here"

He was going to object when he heard the helicopter fly over starting its landing, he also heard the Corpser coming back and saluted the General and said "Will let's go!" He nodded and ran out of the ditch while Fred reached down to grab the Generals COG tags.

He was about to grab them but a bullet shot right in between his hand and the body and cursed. He turned and shot the drone that was approaching him but it was too late to grab the tags as the Corpser came out of the sink hole again roaring.

Fred ran and just barely avoided the Corpses claws and ran for the raven that had just landed. Bullets flew past him as he saw Rat then Will jump in the copter. He ran and jumped into the copter and the hatch closed.

Fred was panting as he felt the Raven lift off and Will helped him up, Rat looked at him with a worried look but looked away. The pilot suddenly started talking and said "Where's the General?" Fred and Will frowned and Fred said "He… didn't make it"

Present day…

The judge glared at him and said "We've heard the story ten times now. We know you left him to die and your squad mate Whiskey 3 and the chopper pilot both say they saw he was alive. You are sentenced to life in prison"

Fred and Will both knew this was going to happen the whole time and allowed the officers to pull them away without any effort. When they left Fred said on the bus to the prison "Brothers to the end… whenever that may come" Will and him shook hands and waited on the bus for their future.

**So what do you think of this story, my brother invented most of it and will become much longer if I see people want to read it. The new characters will appear in the next chapter. If anyone spotted anything wrong with the chapter or just wants to tell me something in private you can PM me too. Once again thanks for clicking on the story.**

**Admiralkirk**


	2. Out of hell into the real world

**Echoes of the Dead**

**Chapter 2**

**A/N Hey I'm back with my new chap and I'd like to thank Eviltitan97 for being the first reviewer thanks for the pick me up. That first chapter was a bit of a trial run for my firefight writing because I've never done that before. Well anyway I'd also like to say that there maybe a few cameos from real Gears characters and just wanted to tell everyone that. Anyway on with the next chapter.**

**Chapter 2:**

Fred and Will had spent five long and dangerous years rotting in prison since they were convicted. They never tried to escape and tried to never get in trouble. They watched many escape attempts that failed miserably and were constantly pressured to come along but always turned them down.

They nearly died on several occasions but as they did outside of prison they watched each other's backs and nearly died together but would always escape the clutches of death somehow.

But after five years Fred and Will were exhausted and were on the verge of insanity and suicide. But one night during the night Fred couldn't sleep when he heard someone come to his cell and knock on the bars "Hey convict you got a visitor" the guard said walking away as he heard another pair of boots come to the cell.

Fred looked backwards because he slept facing away from the door because it gave him hope and after five years that was starting to kill him so he faced away. He saw a man that he'd never seen before in the prison staring at him with an expression he seldom saw.

The man said "Are you Frederick Davidson?" Fred grunted "Ya what do you want?" He got up and stared at the stranger with a glare and the man smiled and said "This is your lucky day" Fred scoffed and said "Alright who are you and what do you want?"

The figure smiled and said "I'm with the government and I've come to get you out" Fred eyed him suspiciously and said "Go on" He the man smiled and snapped his fingers and three men came in and unlocked the door and the other two took his arms.

Fred got confused but the figure said "Got to keep this on the down low so no one knows what's happening, it will look like a routine transfer" Fred rolled his eyes and allowed the guards to transport him out of the cell and saw Will in the same position.

They walked down the hall and left the holding area, when they left the guards let go and Fred said "I'd like to know what's going on now" as he rubbed his arms. The man said "You're being released because we found some footage from the helicopter that picked you up and after a lot of zooming in and reading lips we have concluded that you were wrongly accused"

Fred and Will both growled rolling their eyes and Fred said holding back anger "So what are you doing with us?" He sighed and said "We're sending you back into the army…" Fred said "Thanks" sarcastically while he spoke and the man continued "… and we're reassigning you to Echo squad as the ranks of private" Fred said pissed of "So your covering up your stupid mistake by making us privates and putting us in a shit squad that's also probably got a leader who will be watching us, right?" The man sighed and tossed them a bag and said "Here's your gear, then you're going on that raven out there" He pointed to a helicopter outside.

They put on their gear and walked out of the prison and were hit by the first sunlight they had seen in years and squinted. They walked to the copter and hopped on and the hatches closed as they sat down.

On the ride there was one armed guard in case they tried to highjack the helicopter and Fred asked "So how's the war been going" The guard lowered his weapon and sighed, he said through his helmet "Not good, cities have been falling faster and faster. The Locust just never stop coming and have no mercy"

Fred and Will looked at each other worried and the Soldier continued "I lost my whole family when they bastards attacked the shelter my family was in. I was out on mission during the attack and by the time I was back they were… gone" They couldn't see it through his helmet but he had a tear going down his cheek and said "I almost envy you guys, you missed some bad stuff in that tightly protected prison"

Fred said "You wouldn't have wanted to be in there" The soldier didn't disagree and was about to ask something when suddenly the Raven shuddered. The soldier got tense and said "What was that"? He asked the pilot but there was no answer.

He looked at the cockpit to find the glass broken and the pilot limp. He got to his feet and saw a glass shards all around his body and one in his forehead and cursed at the helicopter shuddered even more, outside the window was Nemesis bombs flying at them and he yelled "The pilots dead!"

Fred and Will both froze and the pilot said "Either of you happen to know how to fly?" Fred and Will didn't know but Fred got up anyway knowing that trying was better than sitting there. He carefully removed the dead body as the Raven shuddered again from another near miss and sat down taking the controls.

He started moving the copter forward and the Nemesis corrected their course to catch them. Will was on his feet taking his weapon in hand and asked "Hey what's your name? Might as well know before we die" he said and the Soldier said "Paul Jones"

Will nodded and said "I'm Will and he's Fred" he shook his hand and the Helicopter jerked left from Fred trying to avoid a bomb. Paul stumbled but recovered and Fred said from the front "They're coming too fast, prepare for a bad hit" he almost predicted that as the Raven got hit and was launched up a bit making Paul slam his head off his the ceiling of the Raven and Grunted.

Fred said over the commotion "We're crashing!" Will and Paul braced themselves. The Helicopter fell slightly slower than they expected because of the auto gyro effect. The helicopter became very close to the ground and when it touched the ground it threw Will and Paul into the side of the Raven and it slid across the landscape.

Fred was the first awake and looked back to find the metal crunched together making it impossible to get out that way. He looked to the window and saw none of the area was large enough for him to get out and tried to break his way through but was so weak he couldn't break it.

He grunted as the pain started to hit his body from the crash and grabbed his lancer and blasted window until it shattered and slowly and painfully crawled out. When he was out he saw the place they crashed into and saw it was desolate covered in previously used grub holes.

Fred got up sorely and staggered to the side of the copter hoping to find Will and Paul alive. The hatch to the side was still closed and he grabbed the middle trying to pry it open. He pulled as hard as his muscles allowed him but it didn't budge and yelled "Hey are you ok?"

He heard someone cough from the other side of the door and it said "Ya we're ok" It was Paul and he sounded fine and he continued "Will's out but he's still alive" Fred sighed with relief and said "Hey help me open the hatch, we need to move the grubs will be on us any second"

He could hear Paul get up and grab the door and they both pulled and the hatch inched open until it was large enough for them to squeeze out. Paul pulled Will towards the door and then took his legs while Fred lifted his shoulders and they pulled him out. Paul fell over after putting down Will and grabbed his leg and said "It hurts but I can still walk" Fred looked over and saw his leg bleeding and grabbed his trauma kit and wrapped it up. "You ok to walk?" He nodded and grabbed his lancer.

Fred could see Will wasn't going to wake up and carrying him by himself wasn't an option so he found some metal that fell off the helicopter and slid Will under it and asked Paul to carry one side. When they both were ready to carry Will they started walking in the direction they were flying towards. While they walked Fred asked "Can you raise anyone on the coms?" Paul shook his head and said "We're way out of raven patrol areas, we got maybe a day's walk ahead" Fred groaned but knew that was their only option.

After an hour of walking they could finally see some real vegetation instead of the barren landscape they'd been walking through the whole time. Paul groaned as he slightly tripped and his hand cut into the metal. Fred looked back but he gave him a reassuring nod.

They reached the green land and found a small tree for them to rest under, they laid down Will and Fred rested against the tree while Paul collapsed but was still conscious. Fred looked at him and saw his leg was worse than before and the bandages were soaked.

Paul was panting hard and could barely move as Fred removed the damp bandages and added some more. Paul drank some water he had and said "Ok let's go" Fred stopped him "Try to raise a copter first" Paul nodded but doubted there would be one close enough and went on the radio and said "Hey this Private Paul Jones" after waiting for an answer for about thirty seconds he sighed and said "Nothing"

Fred lowered his head disappointed and thought "Not one day out and I'm fighting for my life" Paul grunted his way back up and grabbed the piece of metal while Fred lifted the other side and they continued to walk.

After a few more hours the sun started to fall below the horizon and Fred said "We need to stop for the night" Paul was stumbling and nodded and they found a clearing to camp in. Paul was a bit better now since his wound had fully healed but it still hurt a lot because they suspected that he had shrapnel in his leg and he went limp against a tree and said "I promise mom I'll get through this and continue are name" He mumbled to himself.

Fred heard and said "I'll get you out of here I promise" Paul nodded and relaxed against the tree while Fred grabbed some wood to make a small fire. Paul Stared into the fire and said "How'd you get locked up anyway?"Fred sighed and explained everything and when he finished Paul said "That sucks, I mean wrongly accused for following orders"

Fred looked up at him and said "What?" and Paul said "Well he told you to leave him behind and in a way that's an order" Fred chuckled and said "Never thought of it that way" Paul shrugged and suddenly fell asleep from exhaustion and Fred decided to follow.

In the morning…

Fred woke up to some heavy breathing near him and opened his eyes, across from him was Paul who was still asleep and a drone standing over him getting ready to slit his throat. Fred's instincts kicked in and got and started running at the drones in a mere second and tackled the bastard right before his knife touched Paul's throat and pulled out his shoulder knife and smashed it through its skull. The grub died instantly but when he tried to remove the knife the blade broke and he cursed.

Paul woke just then and cringed as he felt his leg sting from yesterday. He looked back and tensed up as he saw Fred getting off the dead grub and grabbed his rifle getting up not even feeling the pain with the adrenaline pumping through him and looked around.

Fred got up and grabbed his rifle and said "Get will now" they both grabbed the metal to transport Will and moved as fast as they could hearing tremors of grub holes and the war cries of the drones getting closer…

**There's chapter 2 I hoped you like it. I want to ask any of you if Paul should be allowed to live, send a review on whether he should survive. I will occasionally ask if I should save someone we've gotten to know, it may effect if they come back again for a chapter or two later. As for the chapter itself let me know what you think, the next one should be out soon since it's CHRISTMAS BREAK! Also Happy holidays to everyone.**

**Admiralkirk **


	3. Unstoppable force!

**Echoes of the Dead**

**Chapter 3**

**A/N Hey I'm back with the next chapter and I've made my decision on whether Paul will survive or not and you'll have to read to find out. Whether he becomes a long term character is another story though and I'll give you a heads up when I made the decision. Well anyway here comes the next chap.**

**Chapter 3:**

Fred and Paul had been carrying Will for about half an hour since their rude awakening and they could hear the Grubs getting closer. Paul was breathing heavy because the pace they were going was bad on his leg and he groaned.

Fred said "Paul you ok?" All he got was him saying "Yes" as he grunted through the word. Fred knew they couldn't keep it up much longer and looked back and sighed as he saw none of the grubs yet.

Paul stumbled nearly dropping Will but recovered barely as he grunted again. Fred was getting desperate as and said "Paul try to raise someone, anyone on the com!" Paul nodded still staggering and said "Mayday! Mayday this private Paul Jones requesting help… please respond, the grubs are right on our ass!" He almost closed the channel thinking no one heard when suddenly a signal came through barely that said "This is APC-12 *Crackling* your position" Paul guessed he asked for their position and relayed them to them as the signal cut out with only a confirmation signal saying they got it.

Fred sighed as their luck finally started to turn and said "We need to stay here or they'll drive here when we're gone" Paul nodded and they hid behind a thick tree and Paul grabbed his leg in pain again. Will was still out cold and Fred peaked around the tree to see a drone just starting to peak around a tree and said "Be quiet" Paul heard him and stayed as quiet and still as he could.

The drones started sniffing the air obviously knowing the humans were nearby, he started getting closer and Fred reached for his knife then remembered it was broken and cursed and motioned for Paul to give him his. He passed it over to Fred and he got ready as the drone walked around the tree.

The drones was about to see them when Fred got to his feet and jammed the knife right up his chin all way to his brain and pulled the knife free intact this time. Paul nodded to him as he let out a heavy sigh and Fred heard more coming from the same direction and said "Get your gun ready we won't be able to hide any longer" Paul looked like he was in extreme pain but nodded and grabbed his lancer and got ready.

Fred did the same and waited for the right moment to attack, Paul remembered he had a grenade and tossed it as Fred said "Fire!"He tossed the grenade and the confused drones stopped right around it. The grenade exploded sending body parts everywhere.

Fred shot and killed the survivors and he said "Reload and wait for the next wave" Paul grunted in agreement and got ready. He just finished reloading when the ground shook and an E-hole appeared in front of them and drones started clambering out.

Paul and Fred opened fire and shot them as they climbed out but they eventually had to reload and a few got out in the short time and returned fire. Paul barely hid behind the cover as the bullets chipped away from the bark, Fred came back out and blasted a few before going back to reload.

Another E-hole opened up slightly under the tree they were hiding behind making it fall into it. Fred cursed as the roots cracked out of the ground and whipped him in the face and he rolled to avoid a grenade that was flying directly at him, it exploded harmlessly behind him as he ran for new cover.

Paul tried to get up to find cover but fell to one knee and crawled doing his best to stay alive but the Locust noticed and thought it would be a free kill and walked towards him. The grub kicked Paul in the gut flipping him on his back and smashed his foot down only to feel his own brains explode out of his head.

Paul thought he was dead and opened his eyes to see the grub falling over next to him and looked over to see Will was finally awake with a Boltak pistol in hand and its barrel smoking. Paul sighed with relief and flipped back over clutching his stomach from the kick and crawled a bit faster behind a tree.

Fred noticed Will awake and sighed with relief and kept firing. Will was able to get behind cover and returned fire with his pistol occasionally taking a grubs head off. Paul got to one knee and lifted his rifle and blind fired at the locust connecting enough to hit them.

After fighting them off a bit longer the radio crackled and Paul stopped shooting to hear the APC say "We're almost there just hold on" Paul sighed and said "They're almost here!" Will didn't know transport was coming until now and said "Thank god"! and Fred sighed as they heard the engine coming from behind them and on the radio "THE CALVARY HAS ARRIVED WHOO!"

For some reason recognized the voice and said "That's…" The APC drove in smashing through trees and the front hatch opened revealing three gears, two were in full COG armor while the second came out with pale white armor and had dark skin, the man was huge and instantly ran into battle shooting the Locust and Will continued "… the Cole Train!" Will automatically started backing up to the APC while Fred ran to Paul knowing he wasn't going to be able to move fast enough.

Cole noticed the hurt Gear and said running to him "Hey man this train leaves no one behind!" He picked him up Paul and Fred stopped seeing his friend being carried and ran for the APC. Will hopped in and Fred wasn't far behind, the two other gears started shuffling back into vehicle and Cole ran in last with Paul and the front hatch closed.

They felt the APC take off and even heard some grubs get squashed behind from under and Fred sat down in a seat exhausted. Will stood up because he wasn't as tired as him and Cole placed Paul in a seat who was now out cold.

Cole said "We got you just time, why were you out there anyway?" Fred said "Our Raven crashed and we've been trying to contact someone for about a day" Cole frowned and asked "Anyone else with you?" Fred shook his head "Only the pilot and he died before we hit the ground"

Cole nodded and sat down while one of the other gears checked on Paul and Fred asked "Is he going to be ok?" The gear checked his pulse and said "He's still alive but he bleeding" Fred looked down at his pant leg and saw that it had been ripped during the battle and also accidentally opened the wound again.

Fred got up and said "Well then fix it!" he said to the gear who said "Shut up I can't work with you yelling" he started sewing the wound and when he finished a lot of blood had dripped out of him and he wrapped a cloth around the wound in case it broke again.

The gear said "He needs plasma soon or his body may not be able to make more blood for him" Fred growled and nearly punched something but held back and said "I promised him he'd make it!" but Will calmed him and said "Have faith Fred at least we're out danger"

Fred sighed and sat in his seat and they waited for the APC to reach the base they should've been in yesterday, as they got close Cole got on the com and said "This is Cole to base we need medical attention when we arrive we got wounded" The base said back "Copy that Cole we'll have Medics on standby" Cole nodded and said "Cole out"

The rest of the ride was quiet until they finally heard the APC slow and finally stop, the hatch opened and Medics started running and grabbed Paul and put him on a gurney and transported him away. Fred stepped out and watched them run into a nearby building with a red cross on it and looked back to Cole who was getting praised by Will who was a huge fan.

"Aww man Cole thank you so much for saving us, hey Fred this is 'the' Cole train man can you believe it?" Will said almost jumping around like a child. Fred chuckled and said "What other Cole train is there? Anyway thanks for the help Coles" he joked to Will then thanked Cole who said "So problem baby, the Train stops for everybody… well except them grubs, the Train speeds up then" he laughed.

Will pulled out a piece paper he had for some reason and said "Man this may be the last time I ever see you so can you sign this?" Cole smiled and said "Sure anything for a fan" While he did that a soldier came from behind Fred and said "Are you Fred Davidson and Will Hunter?" Fred nodded and the soldier said "The base commander wants to talk to you"

Fred turned back to see Cole had just finished and said "Sorry I'd love to stay but I got to go" and walked away while Fred said "Will! The boss man wants to talk to us" Will put the paper into a pocket and followed Fred and the soldier.

The soldier led them through the base until they reached a large tent with the COG symbol on it and they walked in to see four men looking over a map. Fred and Will waited while the soldier walked to a man with a beret on and normal commander clothes. The soldier whispered in his ear and the commander looked up and said "We'll talk later gentleman I have other matters to attend to to" the other three men left the tent followed by the soldier and the commander said "So you're the new troops I heard about?" Fred said saluting "Private Fred Davidson and Will Hunter reporting for duty" The commander looked at them angry "Put your damn hands down, I don't know who allowed you back in this army but scumbags lie you who allow officers to die don't salute to me" Fred and Will looked at each other and lowered their hands.

The Commander walked in front of them and said "I may have to be in charge of you but that doesn't mean I have to put you in real combat so I'm putting you on Echo squad, it's a cleanup slash civi rescue team, my assistant will show where their barracks is, now get out of my sight"

Fred and Will left and to find the soldier still standing outside and said "Follow me to Echo squads barracks" they followed and Will said quietly to Fred "That guy was an asshole, why couldn't he have been the guy we escorted six years ago?" Fred chuckled but said "Easy bud, we'll keep our heads down and stay out of trouble" Will sighed but agreed.

They arrived at a small building that said "Echo on it but below it was a freshly painted 'sucks' under the name and Fred said "Must be one of the less liked squads" The soldier stopped and said "Well here's where you'll live" he nodded and walked off and the two walked to their new home.

**Well there's chapter three I hope you enjoyed the cameo from Cole. As for Paul if anyone wants to see him become a full time character let me know. The next chapter should be out soon and don't forget, Happy holidays.**

**Admiralkirk**


	4. First day

**Echoes of the Dead**

**Chapter 4**

**A/N Hey guys here's chapter 4 and I'd like to say I'm enjoying writing about something different then my other stuff, it's a bit refreshing. Well anyway we're finally going to meet Echo squad so enjoy. Sorry for the extremely long wait got caught up with my Spyro series.**

**Chapter 4:**

Fred and Will walked towards the barracks and opened the door, inside were a few beds, a couch, radio and a few other luxuries. They walked a bit further when they heard a deep raspy voice say from behind them "Who are you?"

They turned to find a man in his forties who had a huge build. He stood about half a foot taller than Fred and Will and was in his armor which was very covering and very thick. Fred said "We got orders to be assigned to Echo squad" The giant man nodded and said "So you're the criminals we have to 'babysit' or at least that's what the commander said"

He walked around them and kept talking "You came at a great time, as of right now it's just me and Flame because our last mission went to shit" Fred looked towards Will who looked surprised and Fred asked "What happened?"

The man said "We were sent to go do some small cleanup work of a battle that had ended around two hours before we arrived and then suddenly the whole Locust army appeared and we barely escaped with only me a Flame left"

Fred nodded and said "You keep mentioning Flame but what's your name?" The man smiled at he pulled out a smoke and lit and said "Me, my name is Sampson Ricardo and you might be?" Fred said back "I'm Fred Davidson and this is Will Hunter" Sampson extended his massive hand and shook both their hands.

Suddenly they heard a small explosion outside and a gear run in with some fire on his arm and he quickly snuffed it out and Sampson yelled "Hey Flame I told you to stop doing fire experiments… moron" Sampson was obviously an old guy and was also apparently a hard ass.

The man he called Flame was slightly shorter then Will and in a more childlike but still slightly masculine voice. His armor was completely standard but had flame decals on the chest and head and had a lot of burn marks in various places "Come on Sam I was just playin around!" Sampson turned and said "What I tell you about calling me that?!" Flame said "Whatever" as he walked forward as noticed the two other men and said "Who are they?"

Sampson introduced them and they shook hands with the young gear and said "Hi my name is Mike Burns but call me Flame" Fred and Will nodded and Fred asked "I'm assuming you're in charge?" He pointed to Sampson who surprisingly shook his head.

"Apparently we're getting a new leader who was transferred over probably to watch you two" Sampson said sitting down. That's when the door swung open to reveal a man in full jet black standard issue COG armor. Sampson got up and said "Hey who are you?"

The figure walked in silently and said "That's classified all you need to know is my code name, Shadow. My rank, Lieutenant, and that I am your new commanding officer" Fred and Will went into saluting position followed by Sampson and Flame took a second to understand what was happening then finally saluted too.

Shadow said "That's better, now I've been reassigned to your squad because I hear most of you died and you're what's left" he pointed to Sampson and Flame then looked to Fred and Will "I hear you two are new so I'm watching you"

He walked to a bed and said "At ease" he sat down on the bed and said "This is mine" the others loosened up and Flame ran outside to do whatever while Sampson sat back down. Fred and Will walked to the other side of the barracks with Shadow watching them the whole way and Fred said "As I said we lay low and for awhile and hopefully this guy will disappear" Will nodded and they walked back and called two beds that were right beside each other.

The rest of the day was pretty slow until they finally were able to rest.

In the morning…

Fred woke up to hear someone in the building moving around and got up to find Flame just walking in and saw him awake "Oh hey… Fred" he tried to remember his name "I just got orders from command we're being sent out" Fred groaned and said "Already, whatever I'll wake Will" Flame nodded and grabbed his stuff.

Fred got up and put on his gear then nudged Will awake "Hey wake up we got work to do" Will groaned as he woke up and said "Damn it" he put on his gear and Fred went to wake Sampson and Shadow, but they were already up and had just gotten their gear on.

Lt Shadow said "Alright everyone I want everyone ready in two" he was already geared up and walking out the door. Sampson took longer since he had heavier armor while Flame fumbled with the strap, common newby mistake. Paul had some lighter armor since the shoulder pads and had less armor around his stomach area. Fred and Will had their armor on quickly and waited for their squad mates to finish.

By the time everyone was done and had their equipment Shadow came back in "Everyone done?" They all nodded in confirmation and walked out of the barracks. Fred noticed what everyone was carrying; Fred had his standard equipment and new Lancer, Gnasher shotgun and a Boltak pistol. Fred was using the same except he had two Boltaks. He looked to Flame and saw he had a Lancer, Flamethrower, snub pistol and also two fire grenades instead of the average frags. Sampson also surprisingly had a retro lancer, Boomshot, snub pistol and also a large pack of C4. Paul complimented his light armor with a Lancer, Longshot and Boltak meaning in his real form he was a fast combat sniper.

He finally rested his eyes on the squad leader, his weapons seemed different. It wasn't just his weapons colours which were all onyx, but the ammo cartridge for the lancer seemed different. The snub pistol seemed a bit stronger too not the wimpy looking gun everyone else used.

Fred didn't bother to ask and they walked towards a raven which was starting up. Flame suddenly asked "I hope this is an easy rescue" Paul agreed but Sampson rolled his eyes at the younger pair and turned to Fred "Hey keep an eye out for the kid, he's smart but tends to lose it during battle, ok?" Fred nodded and they approached the open hatch of the helicopter.

Shadow let them all get in before he did but stopped Will and Fred "I'm watching you two" Fred grunted and replied "That's gonna be hard when you're in front 'fearless leader'. Shadow growled "Get on the Raven" Fred and Will did as he said and sat on the side. Shadow took one of the four seats with Sampson sitting across from him. Flame and Paul sat on the other side so they could talk.

The Raven slowly rose into the air and leaned forward taking off. It started to blast it engine to move forward quickly and took off to its destination.

Shadow started briefing the squad on what their mission was. "We're going to rescue Alpha, Bravo and Charlie squad who were all sent on an extermination mission and stumbled upon a group of civvies. Charlie was the one to find them and Alpha and Bravo were on their way to all evac but on the way both squads were attacked on the way. Our job is to assist and evac all civvies and Gears"

Fred suddenly said "How many choppers are on station for pickups?" Shadow said "This chopper and another on the way for later" he seemed serious and Fred said "What!? Only two choppers?" Shadow said "The base can't afford to send anymore choppers since we're low on supplies" Fred groaned angrily but left it alone not seeing he could do anything about it. Sampson quickly said "Get used to it, we get low priority"

Paul and Flame seemed to getting along more and talked about various things like their past fights trying to outdo each other. Shadow was talking to the pilot and said "We'll be there in a few minutes, get ready" Everyone nodded and Shadow ran through role call "Echo 2" and Sampson nodded "Echo 3" Fred made fun of him by raising his hand like a school kid "Here" Shadow rolled his eyes "Echo 4" Will enthusiastically said "Sup" Shadow continued "Echo 5 and 6" making Flame and Paul respond in order.

Shadow nodded and they could see a ruined city pass under them and soon they could see a street filled with noise and life and death. Shadow quickly as the chopper descended "That's Charlie and the civvies, everyone watch their surroundings and don't get caught in the open, Paul stay back and snipe what you can, and remember to watch each other's backs" Everyone nodded getting ready and even Fred had to admit that even though he hated Shadow he was a decent leader and decided to be a little less hard on him.

By now the sounds of gun fire and explosions could be heard as the Raven landed around the corner to avoid fire. The moment the copter touched the ground everyone filed out and raised their weapons. As soon as it hit the ground it took off again flying off into the sky to await it's chance to evac the men.

Echo squad rounded the corner to see the civvies hiding in the far back with Charlie valiantly defending them. The civilians looked relived to see the new men appear and the squad passed by to figure out the situation. Shadow slid up against the wall beside the nearest Gear and said over the fire "Who's in charge!?"

The gear said still reloading "Him over there" he pointed to a gear further forward behind a mailbox. Shadow said "What's your com channel?" he needed to talk to him but there was no cover near the leader. The soldier said "We're on an open channel hoping the other squads may start talking again"

Shadow nodded and said "Hey, Charlie leader, we're here to help what's the situation?" The gear trapped behind the mailbox looked back try to be as small as possible "Thank god you finally showed up, we have a plan so we don't waste a chopper. There's an APC that looks workable but the Locust popped up right around it, three holes are directly in front of it. It's got plenty of ruble for cover around it so holding out won't be a problem"

Shadow nodded and said "Well we'll open a hole for you and you can advance" The leader nodded back to him and said "Alright thanks, we're down to five and one is injured" Shadow looked around and saw one man who was still fighting but his arm was bleeding from a near miss. The other three looked tired and low on ammo from their much shorter bursts.

Shadow looked to his left and saw his squad mates already in cover and said over their coms "Ok there's a possible working APC just down the road but the grubs have it locked up tight, we're gonna use it to evac the civvies and Charlie. I want Sampson, Fred and Will to cut through the building and flank, after that blow the holes" Sampson looked over to Fred "You heard the man, prepare to breach the possibly grub filled building" he joked as he hauled himself up in his heavy armor.

Fred and Will followed firing blindly at the enemy and barely reached the door as a boomshot grenade passed by. Sampson saw no time in blow the door and just shouldered his way through. Fred and Will came in behind him also as another grenade slammed into the doorway making it collapse.

Fred said "Too close" Will and Sampson agreed and Will took the lead pulling out his shotgun. The silence was incredible, only the loudest noises like explosions could be heard at all, it was almost peaceful. Will led the trio through the building until they reached the wall reaching to the next building. Sampson said "Out of my way, I'll handle this" He pulled out a chunk of C4 and planted it to the wall and said "Alright stand back"

They walked back and he pressed a button making the wall explode and suddenly they heard screams of pain and they walked through the whole to see two locust ripped to pieces from the explosion "Guess they had the same idea" Will said. They continued through two more buildings blasting through the walls. When they reached the last building they heard Shadow yell over the radio "Where the hell are you, they're about to overrun us, WATCH OUT FOR THAT SNIPER! Nice job Paul" Sampson said "We're at the last wall we're almost there"

He blew the wall and they jumped out to hear the sounds of battle again, it came so loud and suddenly it almost made all three flinch. They all ran for cover and luckily none of the locust noticed their appearance and Fred said "Alright everyone get their frags ready" They all nodded and started moving cover to cover getting closer.

They finally got close enough to see the holes and the APC that looked like it was in relatively good shape, that worst of the damage was a few bullet holes and some rust. Fred pointed out and called a hole while the other two called their own. All three threw their grenades and landed in the holes. The grenades exploded making the holes collapse and Fred said "Shadow, we've closed the holes what now?"

Shadow said "Get the APC working and drive it here, the wounded aren't moving but hurry, Charlie's low on ammo" Fred said "Yes sir" and they ran for the vehicle. Will hopped in the vehicle and tried to get it started while Sampson and Fred kept watching trying not to attract attention to themselves.

Too bad for them a few grubs came over to investigate why the holes had closed and saw Fred and Sampson standing in front of the APC and they started firing on them. Fred yelled "Get down!" They ducked behind some debris and started returning fire. There was only three but their fire was attracting more especially a Boomer. Sampson said "Screw you fat man" and pulled out his own boomshot and fired off a grenade at the giant grub. The shot had pin point accuracy and slammed directly into the Boomers chest making it explode into chunks. The other drones weren't stopped in the slightest and kept pushing forward.

Fred said "Hurry up Will, we don't have all day!" Wills voice came over the radio from inside "Shut up man there's already enough pressure" Moments after that the APC's engine roared to life and Will said "Get in" They ran back and to the open hatch of the vehicle and it closed right behind them and the APC lurched forward having not been used in a long time. From the outside the APC screeched around and ran right over four grubs that didn't move out of the way. It drove down the road to the Gears and kept driving and went around the corner where the copter landed.

Shadow yelled "Everyone fall back" Charlie, Echo and the civvies started moving back towards the waiting vehicle that would get them home. Shadow noticed that the APC wouldn't be able to hold all of Charlie and the civilians and the leader of Charlie seemed to agree too "Me and Charlie 2 will stay" he said and the number two stopped backing up. The three other soldiers and civilians crammed into the vehicle.

The APC drove away and Shadow said "Alright fall back, we'll lose these grubs and continue with our objective" Echo and the two Charlie members kept running back until they reached the corner and sprinted down the street.

**There's the new chapter. Sorry this took so long again. I got caught up in my Spyro series so I'll try to do more of this. Wait and see what happened.**

**Admiralkirk**


	5. on the offence

**Echoes of the dead**

**Chapter 5**

**A/N Alright as I said "I'd work on this story a bit and thank god my brother is cooperating for once. As I said before my brother is the creator of this actual story I'm the one just conveying it into words and throwing my input in. For example Paul never existed and I actually based him on a person in Gears of War 3. If you ever play the level on Sovereign and the lambent attack and play arcade you may see during the fight a gear that's always there but if he dies or gets a kill it will say Paul on the score tally on the bottom right. Also since Judgment has been released I may be using the new stuff and creatures from it in the near future. Anyway enough of my ranting got a story to write.**

Echo and what was left of Charlie had been running straight for half an hour and they rounded a corner still hearing the locust behind them yelling angrily. They took a minute to get a breather and Flame said panting loudly "Don't they ever quit?" Paul was the most in shape because of his light armor but said "They really want us dead"

Shadow said leaning against a wall "That may be but we need to move or we'll be fighting them completely exhausted" Will walked over to Fred and asked "How are you feeling about his call?" His friend took a minute to answer "… He's right, either we ran, or be overwhelmed by their forces" he stood up straight again and said to Shadow "We need to get moving" Shadow agreed and the squad-and-half continued on.

As they ran Shadow tried to raise Alpha or Bravo but to no luck. Flame took a look back towards where the locust should have been coming from but noticed that they were continuing down the road and he said "Hey guys look!" everyone stopped upon his words and looked back. The whole force was indeed running in a different direction now. "Where are they going?" Paul asked.

Shadow looked in the direction and of course saw on the buildings on the other side of the street then looked up and saw some nemesis he failed to notice floating over a small area of the sky "There" he pointed "That's where our radio problem is, it's a Seeder" Fred groaned "Damn it, how will we destroy that thing, we have no Hammer?" Shadow started pacing to think and said "We need to get close and study the area and see if the environment can offer any solutions"

The eight men waited until the whole force past and suddenly as they started moving again Flame raised the forgotten question "Why'd they stop chasing us?" Shadow said "They probably think we're heading for the Seeder, unfortunately for them we are now" Fred couldn't help but chuckle and the men followed the locust horde towards the Seeder.

They followed for a few blocks until they could tell exactly where the Seeder was and stopped. Shadow said "Alright we need to scout out the area, Paul you're fast get to a building and figure out the situation, remember at this range short range radio won't work at all" Paul nodded and ran down the street to the right before kicking down a door to cut through the buildings.

Shadow said "As for everyone else, keep an eye out for any stray grubs" the rest of the men nodded but Fred was worried for his friend who had helped him save his best friend and made sure to be ready in case thing went sour.

Inside the building Paul had his Boltak pistol in hand since he had no close range weapons and crept through the building holding his breath waiting for anything to pop out and attack him. He started breath fast as he heard the wood creak but stopped when he realized it was him and continued poised to shoot anything that moved.

He reached the other side of the building and slowly opened the door to see another destroyed street that seemed empty and thought sarcastically "Well that's refreshing" He missed the old days when a street was totally full of life but not anymore, only is the few places that hadn't been completely destroyed by the locust.

He opened the door and continued across the street to another door hoping he'd avoid any encounters. He continued like this through another set of buildings after and looked out the door and nearly walked out into the open but just saw a group of locust and stepped back closing the door and panted from his heartbeat going up fast.

After he calmed he walked away from the door and went upstairs to get a vantage point. The stairs creaked on almost every step and they weren't just an average creak, because of the total silence every sound was amplified. He reached the top of the stairs and walked to a window and peaked over the window sill.

Outside wasn't a street but a small park where people used to walk, talk and even have fun, but was no infested with locusts of all kinds. In the middle of the park was a destroyed statue and he suddenly wished that he could've seen it and what it represented. It was those things you took for granted or completely forgot about in your everyday life that you missed the most and seeing that statue gone was like a symbol saying everything in your life was gone.

He broke his stare from the statue and started to think about tactics. The first thing he noticed was the inert Seeder that seemed to be sleeping or taking a break. It was slightly inside a building that it had surfaced under and the building seemed to be barely holding itself together. He could see the locust building something around the structure to make it more stable so it didn't crush the Seeder and thought "We break those and it will come crashing down".

He knew how to kill it but noticed widening his view that they'd never get close. The locust were literally everywhere. Boomers and drones were everywhere and he debated whether taking down the Seeder would be more efficient then just searching for the remaining soldiers. He studied for awhile trying to learn everything he could and noticed they didn't seem to have a proper patrol meaning they were unorganized and tried to think of how they could use that. He looked slightly lower to see more below him and saw most of the grubs were standing around this building and the ones beside it, probably from the group we ran away from. He had a plan and hoped Shadow would go with it and headed back for the team.

Back with the team…

Fred had been staring at the door where Paul had disappeared into and was starting to get worried "What if he got killed?" he asked Shadow making him turn "Then we leave assuming there's no easy way to reach the Seeder and continue search" Fred had to admit that wasn't the answer he was expecting. He expected him to say something like "Then we attack and win" He expected Shadow, the so obvious agent of the COG, to be a total jackass like everyone other agent he had met and said "Alright"

Almost on cue Paul came out the door and ran back over to them and Fred let out a sigh of relief. He came back and slid behind cover instinctively from years of battle knowing the grub could and would attack at anytime. Fred patted him on the shoulder and Paul gave him a thumbs up and explained the situation around the Seeder including the building and the army around it, he also mentioned the lack of cover because of the open park but started explaining his plan.

When he was done Shadow said "It's bold but it's better then what I could think of from your description, let's do it. But remember this plan will stretch us apart and the Seeder will make our radios useless even short range" They all nodded and Shadow said "Alright we'll split into three groups, Fred you go with Sampson and cover him while he does his job, Charlie 1 and 2 you'll come with Flame, Will and I. Lastly Paul you will provide sniper support, I'd like to give you a guard too so when Sampson and Will finish their job they can choose who to come help you"

Paul knew that wouldn't take long since their job was what would allow them to win this battle and nodded. After that Shadow said "Alright you know your jobs, let's get on with it" They all ran in different directions, Will, Flame and Charlie 1 and 2 followed Shadow. Sampson and Fred went through the buildings like Paul did ad Paul went left seeing a tall building that way.

Fred and Sampson followed the path that Paul had taken before and reached the third building. Sampson started laying C4 against the structures weak spots and Fred asked "Do you even know what you're doing?" Sampson smiled "I studied demolition before I was drafted by the army during the Pendulum wars and became what I am today" he finished up and backed away admiring his handy work.

Fred said "Come on, we got to tell them we're ready" Sampson turned and followed "Nobody appreciates my art" he joked and they exited the house and saw the squad waiting to attack clearly visible to them but un seeable to the enemy and Fred gave them "A-ok" sign Shadow nodded and pointed to a building a bit away telling him where Paul had gone and then opened his hand extending all five fingers meaning he was on the fifth floor. Fred found his way around and ran for the building.

He crawled through a partially destroyed wall and saw something on the wall. It looked like an arrow carved into the wall and said "Follow" above it. He shook his head not even thinking of that and continued to follow the arrows until he reached a door on the fifth floor and opened it. He saw the barrel of a Boltak pistol in his face and tensed up until it lowered to reveal an equally frightened Paul. He couldn't see his face but could tell he was frightened from his quivering hand.

"Damn it, don't do that" Paul whined turning around and re-holstering his pistol. Fred let out a breath and said "Well you should've been expecting me" Paul chuckled and said "That's why I hesitated"

Fred looked out the window and saw the massive force "You weren't kidding when you said there was a lot" Paul nodded and said "Well thank god the moronic bugs haven't moved from the building" he pulled out a mirror and started to angle it so that it reflected the light telling Shadow who was watching for the signal to start. Moments after the building with the explosives detonated killing the closer drones and started to tip.

"Show time" Paul said taking out his Longshot and started to aim. In that time the squad below started firing and Fred really wished he was down there now with his best friend. In the few seconds the building was still tipping over and the stunned grubs had not time to run as it toppled over them turning them to paste.

Fred couldn't help but chuckle at them and he heard Paul fire his first shot. After that first shot he watched the battle begin.

On the ground

Will jumped over his cover hearing the explosion and started firing at the enemy. He ran until he found more cover and crouched down and saw the Flame had ended up beside him and he was already peaking over the car trunk he was behind shooting at the enemy. Will peaked up and had a few pieces of concrete fly in his face from a near miss hitting the piece he was behind and ducked back down in shock. He shook himself back and looked over shooting at a drone that was mid-way between cover dropping him.

Flame shouted "I'm moving up!" He was already moving so nobody could stop him and Will cursed. Flame was running forward when he heard "BOOM" and he saw a very angry Boomer pointing his grenade launcher at him and gasped. The heard the shot and then the explosion then a force knock him right off his feet.

The grenade had landed a few feet in front of Flame throwing him on his back but he somehow started moving again but was still dazed. The Boomer made its way over to Flame who could barely understand where up was. The Boomer was right over top of Flame and it was only now the he started to come back entirely and gasped. The Boomer lifted its foot up in the air to stomp on him but suddenly its head exploded and it toppled over leaving only a streaking mark through the air coming from the floor Paul was on. Flame sighed but was forced up by Shadow who came from his cover and said "Move it soldier!"

They both reached cover in time and the battle continued as they slowly advanced to the Seeder.

In the building

Paul had saved a few peoples life by now after 15 minutes of fighting and said "Fred I'm on a hot streak" His friend rolled his eyes getting bored and said "Ya good for you, at least you're participating in the battle"

Suddenly they heard growls from outside the room door and Fred whispered "Stop shooting" Paul also heard it and pulled out his Boltak and aimed for the door while Fred had his lancer ready. The growl came again much closer this time and they got even tenser until they could hear sniffing sounds and more growls.

Then suddenly they heard something scream from the other side of the door and Paul yelled it's a wretch, it's calling for its pack!" Fred got angry and shot at the door hearing screeching noises from the other side and knew he hit it. "What now? We have to hurry"

Paul started getting scared and but managed to put his longshot back on his back and said "Unless you can fly, that door is our only way out" Fred remembered back in the old days his squad outfitted for anything and really wished he had his repelling gear but said "Alright then we have no choice" He cautiously walked to the door and Paul followed Lancer ready.

Fred counted down with his fingers 3…2…1 he kicked down the door and swiftly looked in every direction expecting to be swarmed but saw nothing "What the hell" Paul was thinking the same thing "Weren't we supposed to be attacked?" Fred and his friend started to cautiously walk to the staircase checking every room in case they were walking into a trap.

Paul said "What if that thing was just dumb?" Fred had learned from experience that the wretch's sometimes surprised you but this was the weirdest of them all and said "Don't assume anything" Paul nodded and followed.

They reached the staircase and started to pick up the pace slightly. Fred started to loosen up actually starting to think that maybe Paul was right and they were down the flight of stairs in moments. Paul was about to say something like "We made it" but suddenly a bullet whizzed by Fred's head and they dove for an office desk for cover. They heard a clicking noise that sounded like a bolt action rifle. Fred had made it a habit to learn all weapons sounds so he'd know what he was facing recognized it as the Breachshot and said "Rager" Paul nodded in agreement pulling out his sniper rifle.

"What the hell are you doing, that thing was close from the sound of it" Fred said but Paul shook his head "You know as much as I do that it's got to be one shot and I do not trust my Boltak" He made sure there was a fresh bullet and took a deep breath. He suddenly jumped up from the cover turning around to face the enemy and Fred could hear two shots.

He saw Paul fall back bleeding from his lower side but also heard another thud from across the room and sighed knowing that he atleast killed the Rager and looked to his friend again. The shot seemed to only hit his lower side and mostly only penetrated the skin since it skimmed across his left side but it looked more hurt then it looked.

Fred helped him up against a wall and said "You ok?" Paul coughed but seemed to jump back again "I'll be fine just get me up and I'll do the rest" Fred did as he asked and Paul stood on his own and Fred handed him his longshot "Maybe that was what the Wratech was screaming for?" Paul shrugged. They stumbled out of the building seeing the dead corpse without a head and they walked outside.

The squad had gained more ground than expected, but saw the Seeder was now shooting nemesis in the air now and Fred said "Shit" The mortars that it shot off started raining down on the squad. Some were shot before they hit the ground but the squad wouldn't be able to fight them off and the locust long and Fred said "We got to help" Paul nodded in agreement and they started to run for the firefight. Paul had to hold his wound, so he was forced to use his Boltak.

As they got closer they had to stop as the Locust noticed their approach and they slid into cover. Paul grunted in pain when he hit the small wall from his wound but looked around the side and shot a drone in chest going through its heart then ducked back behind "I still got it"

Back with the other six soldiers Flame and Will were side by side and Will yelled "We have to take out the Seeder now!" Shadow heard but said "Some suggestions would be nice!" Sampson said over the fire finally putting in some input "I got one, COVER ME!" he vaulted over his cover with his Boomshot in hand and started running towards the Seeder.

Shadow said "Damn it Sampson" as he started shooting any grub that tried to attack him. Sampson kept running and finally got close enough and fired his Boomshot at the structure around the Seeder. The new supports fell apart but the building stubbornly stayed standing and he cursed replacing the large clip and fired again. This time the building creaked loudly and started to tip over onto the Seeder. The monster growled then screamed as the bricks and metal crushed it. Sampson yelled "Take that you piece of shit!"

Shadow said "Damn fine job" over the radio which was finally working again. The suddenly made sure to remind that they were still here and they heard a scream of pain. Charlie 2 was down and by the time anyone could help him he was dead and Shadow cursed. The squad finished off what was left of the Locust; it was much easier now since the Seeder mortars were gone and soon all them were dead.

Flame said "I can't believe we just did that!" he hadn't noticed Charlie 2 was dead because he was so in the moment and suddenly gasped "Shit" Shadow shook his head hating it when he lost men and said to Charlie 1 "We'll get you out of here" He nodded and suddenly as Paul and Fred re-joined the squad Something came over the radio.

"Can anyone here me, please someone respond. This is Alpha squad we're under attack and need help!" Shadow answered "This is Echo squad, we hear you. A Seeder was jamming us, where are you?" The Alpha leader said "Thank god, we're in a tall office building. It's completely surrounded by Locust forces and they're coming up. We can't hold them much longer please hurry!..." they could hear gunfire in the background and Shadow said "Alright my tracker has their location let's move!" Everyone got moving to go to their next objective.

**Ok so chapter 5 done, that was a bit of a workout. Anyway I hope you liked it because I sure did especially since I got to use some Judgment content. The next few chapters are going to be hectic so be prepared. But I promise I'll have some real talk time.**

**Admiralkirk**


End file.
